7.24.2011

These two colors are soooo similar.

Yesterday, this woman and her high-school-aged daughter come up to me at Old Navy with some uniform clothes in their hands. The mom says to me, "Tell her that royal blue and navy blue are the same thing."

...Well. They're not. So this puts me in a really awkward position. I don't want to defy you when you're looking to me for help, but I don't really want to lie.

When I'm in a position like this, I've gotten pretty good at saying something neutral until the person elaborates. Using this tactic, I can usually get away with being pleasant to everyone involved.

I said something like, "Yeah, I mean they're both like, darker...blues..."

Then the mom jumped in: "Right, right, I mean she thought those light blue shirts back there were royal blue."

Okay. See? This is why I try not to jump to conclusions.

At this point, I thought it was pretty safe to explain the whole situation so that the daughter actually understood the truth. I said, "Yeah, yeah, those light ones are powder blue. Royal blue is more like UK blue, and the polos you have here are navy blue."

The daughter seemed to understand/appreciate this explanation.

I guess the mom still thought navy blue and royal blue were the same thing, though, because she said something like, "I don't even know why they would have both colors on the list since they're the same thing."

Okay, they're not. But whatever.

We still had a few more things to ring up, so I said something like, "Man, aren't uniforms confusing? It's so much trouble!"

They both agreed, and the mom said, "I know, it's horrible. She wanted to choose her school by which ones don't have uniforms, but that obviously only leaves you with the ghetto schools."

OKAY LOOK. I've tolerated you not knowing the difference between two very different colors but this is the dumbest thing.

First of all, one or two of the best schools in JCPS don't have uniforms, so you're obviously crazy.

Secondly, why would you say something like that to a stranger who is only a few years older than high school age? Like, you don't know where I went to school.

And just so you know, I went to a school that didn't have uniforms and it actually wasn't one of the best schools in JCPS. But at least I know the difference between navy blue and royal blue.